Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or SAO
The Death Game
By jinzen and zanpakuto communication, Ichigo learned quite a few things during the first month. He did jinzan almost every time he was out of battle. After one month, Ichigo achieved the level 14, which was unusual. Most of the people in the front line were leveled between 12 to 13. Rukia's level was 13, as she played almost same as Ichigo. They tried to use some kido, but the result was same as shunpo. It was powerful skill to use in SAO, where there was no magic. It was too dangerous to depend on, so they decided not to use it.
And with that, a month passed.
"First floor boss target meeting?" Rukia asked. It was something she heard from other players, but she didn't expected Ichigo would recommend something like this.
"Yeah, the people are making guilds to beat the boss. Already one month passed, and the only thing we know is that no one beat the boss of first floor. They are collecting party members to beat the boss." Ichigo said. "It start at four, at the main square. Do you want to go?"
"Yeah, It will be no help if we stayed at back." Rukia said.
"Many...? This number of people?"
"Yes. That is... they gathered here for the first challenge against this floor's boss monster, right? Even though the chance of complete annihilation exists..."
"...I see."
"Long time no see, Kirito." Ichigo inturupted to the couple who just came.
"Oh, Hey Mamoru. Are you planning to be on the raiding party?"
"As you can see. Would you mind introducing your partner?" Rukia interrupted.
"She's not my partner, I just met her in the dungeon. She fainted inside the dungeon, and there's no one beside me." Kirito explained. "Her Linear attack interested me." He added.
"O—K! Now then, it's five minutes late, but let's start! Everyone, a bit more to the front... there, come three steps closer!" A call ended their conversations.
The owner of the truly majestic voice was a tall, one-handed sword user with shiny metallic armor covering each of his body parts. With a running start, he jumped onto the plaza fountain's edge. Jumping that high with his armor, he must have possessed very high Strength and Dexterity.
When they saw the back-turned swordsman, several people of the forty made a commotion.
He looked more like a self-designed character rather than his real look. His hair was blue – since the shops didn't sell dying items, he must have played it to get the dye.
"Today, thank you for heeding my summons! Some people here know me, but I will again introduce myself! I am «Diabel», and my class is «Knight»!"
With that, the people around the fountain burst out with whistles and applause, mixed with various calls like 'You meant «Hero» right!' flew through the air.
For SAO, the job class did not exist in the system. Each player was given a number of «Skill Slots», and could freely select from different skills and set them for training. For example, people with manufacturing or trade type skills in their main slot could be called a «Smith», «Seamstress», «Cook», or other such job titles.
"Egoistical fool." Ichigo muttered under his breath. People who heard him – Rukia, Kirito, and his company – try not to make sound.
"But, no matter what kind of class a person calls himself, it is his own freedom."
Saying this, the man named Diabel was wearing bronze armor on his chest, shoulders, arms and shins, with a large longsword on his waist to the left, and a kite shield on his back. You could say that was the armament befitting Knight.
"Well then, as for the reason I gathered you top players who are active at the very front lines, I don't think I need to say it, but, today, my party found the stairs leading to the top-most floor of that tower. That is, tomorrow —or, at the latest, the day after tomorrow— we will reach it: the first floor's... boss room!"
"So it was 20th floor? We were almost there." Ichigo muttered. Kirito's companion looked to him with a questioning look.
"We could find it if we didn't came down for the meeting." He explained.
"One month. Coming this far took one month... Even so, we have to set an example. Kill the boss, and reach the 2nd floor! We have to show that this death game can be cleared to everyone waiting at the Starting City. That is the obligation of us top players here! Isn't that right, everyone!"
Again, cheers. This time, there were people clapping who were not Diabel's friends. Actually, what was being said was honorable and nothing was hidden. No, it would be strange to even wonder about anything hidden in those words. Right now, I should be like the once-scattered front lines players and buy the Knight's story, and applaud—
"Wait a minute, Knight-san."
At that moment, a low voice flowed out.
The cheering immediately stopped, and the front of the crowd split into two. At the center of the emptied space was a somewhat short and stockily built man. From my position, I could only make out a rather large one-handed sword on his back, and some kind of pointed, cactus-styled brown hair.
Taking one step forward, the cactus head growled in a deep, gravelly voice that was the opposite of Diabel's beautiful voice.
"Before that, there is one thing that must be cleared up; otherwise I cannot join you."
Diabel's eyes narrowed for an instant, but soon returned to full smiles and said while beckoning.
"Opinions are certainly very welcome. But, if you are going to speak, you should tell us your name."
"...Hum."
Cactus head gave a huge snort, then stepped forward. When he reached the fountain, he turned around to face Ichigo and Kirito's party.
"I am «Kibaou»."
The cactus head swordsman who introduced himself with a somewhat daring character name looked at all the players in the plaza with beady but sharp and bright eyes.
His sweeping look stopped for just an instant on Kirito. He did look on Ichigo, but right through passed.
"In this group, about 5 or 10 people need to apologize."
"Apologize? To whom?"
The knight that was still standing behind him on the fountain edge, Diabel, raised both hands in question. Without looking at him, Kibaou spat out in hatred.
"Ha, isn't it obvious. To the 2000 now dead people. Those guys had a monopoly on everything, and so 2000 people died in one month! Isn't that right?!"
At that moment, the low buzzing in the forty people audience was cut short; all went silent. What Kibaou insinuated, everyone finally understood. Myself included, of course.
In the oppressive silence, only the evening BGM from the NPC orchestra played quietly. No one spoke. If anything was said, then you might suddenly be labeled as one of «those guys» —that was the likely fear on everyone's mind. No, more than likely.
"—Kibaou-san. Your «those guys» are... the original beta testers, right?"
Diabel with his arms crossed, showed the most stern look up till now as he asked for confirmation.
"Obviously."
With the thick metal pieces of his scale mail clinking over the leather he wore, Kibaou took a glance at the knight behind him and continued.
"Those beta testers, on the day this shitty game started, dashed from the Starting City and disappeared. They left behind over 9000 people who didn't know left from right. They monopolized good hunting grounds and profitable quests, got stronger without a care for those behind. ...There should be some in this group, hiding their beta status, some sly people thinking of joining the boss fight. I want them to kneel down once, to the party members their lives depend on. That's what I want to say!"
He snapped his teeth. It was clearly to make the beta testers angry. Kirito was about to shout something, but Ichigo stopped him.
The SAO closed beta conducted over summer vacation accepted only 1000 people. Every participant was later given the privilege to buy the official release first, but since the launch date was near examination week, my guess was that not all 1000 testers moved to the official service. Probably about 700 or 800 people total did—that, was the number of original beta testers at the start of the game.
However, finding out «Who is an original beta tester» was not so simple. If a player's colored cursor had a [β] mark, then of course it would be easy —having said that, it could be called fortunate that such a mark did not exist. As for our avatar's appearance, the GM Kayaba Akihiko had reset everyone's appearance to be the same as in reality. The only factor one could go by was the name, but it's probable that many were changed from the beta to the official release.
"May I speak?"
At that time, a rich and forceful baritone resounded in the evening plaza. Everyone turned to look at him.
Huge. His height probably was easily over 180cm. An avatar's size was said not to have any effect on his stats, but the two-handed battle-axe slung over his back certainly appeared lightweight to him. His appearance, too, was impressive and did not lose to his weapon. A completely bald head, and chocolate-colored skin. However, the chiseled face fit so well you might think it was customized. Not Japanese... instead of saying that, maybe he wasn't even human.
The muscular giant moved forward to the fountain, lightly bowed to the other players, and then turned to the dramatically different statured Kibaou.
"My name is Agil. Kibaou-san, what you mean to say is that many beginners died because original beta testers did not take care of them, and you wish for them to accept that responsibility and apologize, isn't that correct?"
"Th...That's right." Kibaou, momentarily overwhelmed, took a step back, but soon returned forward. With his shiny, small eyes glaring at the axe user called Agil, he shouted.
"If they had not left us behind, 2000 people would not have died! However, they were not just any 2000 people, most of them were top ranks or veterans from other MMO's! If those shitty testers had properly shared information, items and money, then there would have been 10 times the people here... no, by now we would have broken through the 2nd or 3rd floor!"
"That's what you say, Kibaou-san. I don't know about the money and items, but I believe you mentioned information?"
Agil the axe warrior again responded in a rich baritone. From the huge pouch on his muscled, leather armor-covered waist, he took out a simple sheepskin-bound booklet. The cover had round ears and
three whiskers stylized with a «Rat Mark».
"This guidebook, you got it too right. Freely distributed from the item shops in Horunka and Medai."
"...Fr-Freely distributed?" "I thought it was 500 cols!" Kirito and Ichigo said at the same time. Fortunately, only the Rukia and Kirito's company heard it.
"...I got it too." The Company said. "I got one during shopping for food, too." Rukia added.
"There's a commission to the item shop owner, but since the price is 0 col, everyone got it. It soon came in handy."
"Wh...What's going on..."
"So what?" Kibaou's voice interrupted their conversation.
"This guide, whenever I reach a new village or town, is always found in the item shop. It's the same for you right. The information comes too soon, don't you think?"
"So what if it's too soon!?"
"The ones who provided the information on monsters and map data in this, cannot be anyone other than the original beta testers."
All the players went abuzz. Kibaou closed his mouth sharply, and the knight Diabel behind him nodded in an 'I see' way.
Once all eyes were again directed on Agil, who spoke with his far-carrying baritone.
"You see, there is information. And even still, many players died. That reason is because they were veteran MMO players, I think. They found SAO similar to other titles, but missed a key difference. However, now is not the time to hunt down who is responsible for those casualties. Whether we become a casualty or not, and how that influences this meeting, is what I think."
The two-handed axe user Agil possessed a very imposing countenance, and his argument was also extremely straightforward, so that Kibaou could only stand in the shadows in silence. If anyone else other than Agil claimed the same thing, then Kibaou would probably counter with 'Saying that means you are an original beta tester', I think. But, as it was now, all he could do was glare at the giant with hatred.
Behind the two silently confronting each other, Diabel, still standing on the fountain's edge, his long hair dyed purple from the evening sun, waved as he nodded once more.
"Kibaou-san, I can understand your point. I, too, went into unknown territories, and finally arrived here after many near deaths. But, as this Agil-san said, isn't it now time to look forward? Even original beta testers... no, especially original testers, we need their fighting strength for this boss strategy. If we removed them, and that resulted in the attack failing, what would be the point?"
Diabel was good at this - Ichigo can't help but agree.
"Everyone, you each have your own preferences, but right now, I would like for you to cooperate to break through the first floor. If there are people who will not fight alongside original testers under any circumstance, then it is unfortunate, but you are free to leave. For a boss fight, teamwork is essential."
The knight's gaze swept across everyone, and finally stopped at Kibaou. The cactus head swordsman made a huge snort then spat out these words.
"...Fine, I will listen to you for now. But I want it to be clear, black and white, only up until the boss fight is finished."
With his scale mail clinking, Kibaou retreated from the front of the group. The axe user Agil, too, spread his arms, showing that he had nothing more to say and returned to his previous place.
In the end, that was the highlight of this first meeting.
"Hey, Mamoru." Kirita said to Ichigo as they were about to be departed.
"Did you think you saw that Diabel guy before?" Ichigo thought before answering
"No, I don't think so. Why?"
Kirito hesitate a bit before saying what he thought. "Well, maybe, I thought that he might be a beta. It's only my opinion though."
"If it's right, it can be dangerous situation for him." Ichigo said what he thought.
"By the way, what's your companion's name?" Rukia inturrupted. "You just made a party with her, right?"
"Her name's Asuna." He answered. "It seemed like her first time playing an online game, so there's possibility of it being her real name."
"Well, it's not a bad name." Ichigo said. Rukia yawned at the moment.
"Well, it's about time to go. See ya later!"
"Bye."
The knight Diabel's leadership, not just with speech, was also pretty good in the finer details, as well.
He checked over the seven 6-person parties, and with the smallest number of switches, formed seven specialized parties. Two heavy armor Tank parties. Three high movement, high attack Assault parties. Two long weapons Support parties.
The two Tank parties would maintain and exchange the burden of being targeted by the boss. Two Assault parties would concentrate on the boss, while the third one would kill the sentinels first. The support parties, mostly using long weapons, would primarily use the Delay skill, to interrupt either the boss's or guards' attacks when possible.
"You four, make sure none of the Kobold Guards remain, and please support Group E."
"Understood. That's an important role, leave it to us."
"Yes, I am counting on you."
With a white flash of his front teeth, the knight returned to the fountain.
"As if." Rukia said with sarcasm. The Company – Asuna – agreed.
"...What important duty. It would end up without a single attack on the boss."
"We can't do anything about it, we only have two people. There's not enough time for Switch and Pot rotation."
"...Switch? Pot...?" Asuna and Rukia both looked as if they were confused.
"After. It's long." Ichigo said.
The second boss strategy meeting was over after a short discussion between the group leaders. Each group was assigned a letter from A through G, and how the boss's col and item drops would be shared was established. The giant axe user Agil was Tank Group B leader, and Kibaou who had a burning enmity for original beta testers was Assault Group E leader. Since Group E was to kill the Kobold Guards, the remaining four, would be assisting Kibaou.
For distribution of drops, 'Col will be automatically divided evenly between the 46 raid members while each item will belong to the person who receives it' was the kind of simple rule to be employed. In recent MMO's, normally a system exists where a person who wants an item will perform a dice roll for it, but somehow, SAO used the previous era's method, as in dropping the item to a random player's storage, without anyone else knowing, either. Thus, if a «Boss-dropped item must be dice rolled» kind of rule were set, then the person with the actual item must announce it.
Diabel, probably to prevent this kind of development, used the «Drop to person» rule. What a perceptive knight.
At 5:30pm in the afternoon, similar messages to yesterday completed the meeting 'Let's work hard!' and 'Yea—!', then the groups split into threes and fives, disappearing inside bars and restaurants. Kirito and Ichigo spilt up the party for a bit.
"So, tomorrow will be the last big battle on First floor, huh?" Rukia said.
"Seems like it. I wish that it will end without casualties."
"I hope so."
"You're late." Ichigo said to Kirito/Asuna party.
"Well, sorry," Asuna replied sharply.
"Hey." A gruff voice emanated from behind. Standing there, was a player with pointed, short brown hair styled somewhat like a cactus – Kibaou.
"Listen here, today you should stay in the back. You guys are only here as support."
"..."
"Listen up! You guys should only take on the small fry kobold mobs that slip past my party as your enemy." Kibaou spat out some more of his virtual spit onto the ground for emphasis, before turning around and leaving.
"He's the type who will surely killed by his comrades in a real war." Ichigo muttered. "He probably never been to a real-" Rukia nudged Ichigo with her elbow.
"Real what?" Asuna asked them. "Uh, I'm sure he meant nothing." Rukia covered for him.
"...Eeh...?" Kirito made a sound while he was thinking. Ichigo looked at him questioning, but someone said as he was going to ask him.
"Everyone, although it may be sudden ―― Thank you all, I am really grateful that all forty-four party members have gathered, without a single person missing."
After talking, a loud cheer of *OH* shook up the entire square. It was followed by a cascade of applause.
After smiling at everyone, the knight pumped his right fist, and continued shouting loudly,
"Now, I want to mention I was actually thinking of aborting this mission if a single person didn't show up! But... worry of this kind is an insult to everyone. I'm very happy that... the best raid party... well, even if the number of people isn't enough!"
A few people laughed and whistled, and some people pumped their right hands mimicking him.
"Everyone... What I want to say now is this!"
His right hand moved to his left hip, and he drew his silvery sword with a ringing peal――
"...Let's win!"
A loud cry rang out.
Bringing up the rear was Asuna, who walked alongside the swordsman and, forgetting all about last night's incident, began to talk.
"Hey... You... before you came to this, errr... MMO game? That's what they're called, right? Did you play any others?."
"Emm... ah, yes. And, yes I did." Kirito, being a big game otaku, said with sureness.
"Not me. I didn't – I played this because I won this game." Ichigo said.
"In other games, are there normally moments with this kind of feeling? How should I put it... like going on a field trip..."
"...Ha ha, a field trip would be nice"
Giving a short laugh, the swordsman then shrugged.
"Unfortunately, the other games that I played didn't have this kind of mood. After all, those are games that don't use the FullDive technology, so it's necessary to use the mouse and keyboard to control the avatar's movements. Therefore, there's not much time to dedicate to the chat window."
"...Ah, I see..."
"Well, there are other games that include voice chat, but I haven't managed to play them yet."
"Bad luck"
"...Now it's the real deal, I wonder what they are feeling?"
"Eh? Re-real deal?"
The swordsman gave her a questioning look, so Asuna tried to describe the image in her mind.
"So... in a fantasy world of this kind... adventuring as part of a group of swordsmen and magicians, on our way to fight a terrible boss monster. During the journey, what do you speak about?... or would you walk along silently? That kind of subject."
"..."
The swordsman remained oddly silent, and when she glanced at his expression, Asuna felt conscious that she had asked a childish question. Just as she reflexively turned away, and was about to say "I guess it doesn't matter,"
"It was nothi – hup!"
Rukia pulled Ichigo from them.
"Are you crazy? You can't tell anybody about the Winter War! You know you're rusty about this, right? You didn't did something like this in the real world!" Rukia whispered furiously. "What did you thought?"
"I…I don't know." Ichigo replied. "It was like it just came out from my mind."
"Well, don't make same mistake at upper floors."
12:30, at the top floor. So far, there were no deaths.
After all, a near forty-eight person «Full Raid» party marched, and for the majority of those here, this was their first time. In this world, «First» was an action that held the risk of accident and was dangerous, without exception.
In fact, there were three situations which were very frightening. The people wielding long weapons such as the «Spear» and «Halberd», mostly in the Groups F and G, were ambushed by the melee-type Kobolds along the road. In SAO, melee weapons will not harm players if they are swung by accident (of course, this is not equal to a criminal act), and sword skills that come into contact with an obstacle are cut short. Ranged weapons were already at high risk from this, and the melee ambush made the situation even worse.
In such a situation, the knight Diabel showed his ability to command precisely. As a leader of the forces, he made bold decisions, like staying to fight while ordering others to retreat, using heavy a amount of sword skills to knock back monsters, and switching between long and melee weapon-equipped members. These decisions could only be made if he was familiar with being a leader.
Not even the knight dared to shout "Let's win!" in this place. This was because humanoid monsters would react to loud noises here.
Instead, Diabel lifted his silver long-sword up high, and gave a large nod. The forty-three raid members also raised their weapons and nodded in reply.
His long green hair fluttered as he turned around; the knight placed his left hand in the center of the large doors――
"――――Let's go!"
With a short cry, he pushed the doors open with all his might.
The room was vast. The rectangular room had a width from the left to the right wall of about twenty meters, and there was a distance of about one hundred meters from the entrance to the back. The size of the floor was roughly the same as the other 20 floors, and this room was the last one to be mapped. Therefore, its area could be estimated from the blank area on the map. However, seeing it with their own eyes made it feel a lot larger than it actually was.
This room was spacious in order to contain the gigantic monsters here.
In Aincrad's boss room, the doors would not close even during battle against the boss. Therefore, even if the events took a turn for the worse and we were in danger of being annihilated, we had the option to retreat. However, if they turned and fled and the enemy's long ranged sword skill hit us, it might slow down, «delay», or prevent from moving, «stun». So, we would have to retreat while facing the boss. In that situation, the hundred meters needed to escape would feel infinitely long and could lead to a critical situation. Instantaneous teleportation was possible using a «Teleport Crystal»; however, it was expensive and obtainable only from the higher floors, which would make retreating from bosses on higher floors easier, but because it was so expensive, the player could be left with a near-empty wallet after such a retreat.
The boss room sank into almost complete darkness. On the walls to the left and right of the room, *ping* *ping*, from the front of the room towards the back, «torches» were lit one by one. The crude torches noisily blazing to life.
Adorning the area, large and small skulls were scattered around. In the deepest part of the room stood a huge throne, upon which a rough silhouette of something large was seated.
The knight, Diabel, raised his long sword, and swung it down in front of him...
At his signal, the forty-six members of the boss monster hunting forces raised a battle cry as they rushed into the room like an avalanche.
The front row charged in first, led by Group A's leader equipped with an iron heater shield, and with his «Hammer» lifted up high. They were followed by Group B diagonally to their left, led by the Axe warrior Agil, and to their right, Diabel and his five friends made up Group C. Group D was led by a tall man wielding a Two-handed Long Sword, then behind these three groups were Group E, led by Kibaou, with the «Polearm» equipped Group F and Group G, running alongside them.
And still further behind them, were four extra people—
When the distance between Group A and the throne was about 20 meters, the gigantic silhouette which had not initially moved suddenly jumped fiercely into the air, somersaulting once before landing on the ground, causing the earth to rumble. After that, it opened its wolf-like jaws, and howled.
"Gurururaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The demi-human King, «Illfang the Kobold Lord», looked exactly as I remembered. Its muscular body was over two meters tall, and covered in blue-gray fur. Its bloodthirsty eyes flashed a golden red. Its right hand wielded an axe made of bone, while its left had a Leather Buckler equipped. Behind its waist, a meter and a half long «Talwar» protruded.
The Kobold Lord raised the Bone Axe in its right hand up high, and forcefully struck at Group A's leader. The heater shield received the blow, causing a dazzling light effect and a loud sound to reverberate throughout the hall.
As if that sound were a cue, from various alcoves high up on the side walls, three heavily armed monsters jumped down. These were the guards, «Ruin Kobold Sentinel». Group E led by Kibaou, and the support Group G, quickly moved towards the three, locking onto their target. Asuna and I glanced at each other and dashed to the nearest Sentinel.
Thus, on the fourth of December at 2.40p.m, the first boss battle finally began.
«Illfang»'s HP gauge had four bars. During the first three bars, it would hold its Bone Axe in its right hand and its Leather Buckler in its left, but on the fourth, it would discard them and remove the Talwar from its waist. Its attack patterns would completely alter -as Argo's strategy guide had described. Then, after changing its weapons from the Bone Axe to the Talwar, our sword skills and tactics would have to change accordingly, just as they had discussed in the meeting the day before.
The battle between the Kobold king with its guards and the forty-six players moved faster than anyone thought.
Diabel and the rest of Group C had reduced the first HP gauge, Group D had removed the second layer, and now Group F and G had reduced its third layer by half. Until this point, Group A and B, the «Tank» teams, had their HP in the yellow «Half» region, but never entered the dangerous red region. There were also a few guards, which were left to Group E and the two of us to handle, we had performed so well that sometime in the midst of battle, Group G moved to support the main battlefield.
What was truly impressive was the intense fighting from the rapier user Asuna, and the «Linear» that had amazed even Kirito, who was a beta tester.
"I know what you're up to. Feels gooood."
"...What did you say?"
Kibaou's comment confused Kirito, but he was not the only one who was confused by his comment.
"Don't pretend. I already know your motivations for slipping into this boss raid."
"My... motivations? Aside from beating the boss, is there anything else?"
"What, I can be direct, right? I know exactly what you're aiming for!"
This conversation, seemed to be a lot of guesswork on his part. I was so frustrated I ground my teeth, before Kibaou finally said what he wanted to say...
"I've heard about you. In the past, you did a dishonourable act such as LA the boss. "
"Wha..."
Kirito stopped for a moment.
"...Kibaou. That guy who talked to you, how did he manage to gain information on me being a beta tester?"
"Straight to the point. He used ridiculously large amounts of money and bought the information from «the Rat». I joined the team to keep the hyena in check."
――――Liar. Argo, even if she would sell information on herself, would never sell information on other beta testers.
Ichigo and Kirito both thounght about the same thing.
It looks like the third HP gauge was removed by the poleaxe weapons of Group F and G before they retreated. Instead of waiting for their full recovery, Group C rushed in to press the attack. The party leader was the commander of the raid itself, the blue haired knight Diabel. Even in the dim light of the dungeon, his blue hair glittered brilliantly.
"Uguruooooooooooooo――――!"
«Illfang the Kobold Lord» gave out a loud roar. At the same time, the final wave of three «Ruin Kobold Sentinel» jumped out of their holes in the walls.
"….More small fry Kob, this time I won't let even one go. I won't let you LA them."
His voice dripping with hatred, Kibaou returned to the midst of Group E.
"...What did you talk about?"
"No... ―― first, let's defeat our opponents."
"...Yes."
"If what he said is right, why didn't he noticed you?"Rukia asked to Ichigo.
"Please don't ask." He moaned. During the beta test, he accidentally went into an tatto shop – and accidentally got one – like the one Renji had.
At that moment――
Suddenly, Ichigo felt something, so he quickly gazed at the main battlefield.
The Kobold king, with the bone axe in its right hand and the leather shield in its left, threw both down onto the ground simultaneously, gave another roar, brought its hand to the back of its waist, grasped the rag bound handle and pulled out the «Talwar». From here on, it would only use the sword skills from the curved blade category, going into a berserk rampage, becoming terribly wild, but dealing with it is now easier than before. It used a long-ranged longitudinal cut. As long as you grasped the timing of the skill when it was launched, even if you're near the boss you could avoid the edge of the weapon.
Under Diabel's command, the six people that formed Group C surrounded the boss. This was a formation that was not used while the boss still wielded the bone axe.
"As if he know what attack boss will take…" Mamoru suddenly said. Kirito noticed this as soon as his party member said this.
"You're right – he used curved blade in beta, but this time, it's …"
The weapon Cobolt king was using, was a katana.
"――It's coming!" Asuna yelled, waking up Kirito from his mind.
"Switch!" Ichigo yelled, seeing Kirito was confused by whatever he was thinking.
"A... AA...!" Kirito moaned, as if he noticed something. Ichigo noticed it at same time, because it was something familiar.
The Kobold king's huge body shook the floor, as it jumped up high. It turned its body in mid-air, while accumulating power to its weapon. As it fell down, it used the accumulated power, releasing a crimson beam of light.
Plane of attack――horizontal. Angle of attack――three hundred and sixty degrees.
Sword skill for katanas, the heavy ranged attack "whirling wheel" «Tsumujiguruma».
Six vivid red light effects appeared, looking like pillars of blood.
The HP gauge that was displayed to the left in our field of vision showing Group C's average HP immediately dropped below fifty percent and into the yellow zone. Although you could expand the gauge with your fingertips in order to see the six individual HP gauges of each player, at the moment there was no point in doing it. Everyone in Group C obviously received equal amounts of damage.
It was a ranged attack with tremendous power and enough to take out more than half of the full HP, but that was not all. Yellow lights rotated around the heads of the six people that had collapsed on the floor, indicating that they were unable to move for a period time ―― this was the stun effect.
Of the large variety of bad status in SAO, being stunned wasn't as scary as paralysis or blindness, as the effect lasted at most ten seconds. However, once the effect started, there was no way to recover from it. Therefore, if the front members were stunned, their friends must save them by diving in front without waiting for the switch, and must become the target to draw enemy fire ―― however.
Not a single person moved to help. Despite carefully planning for the fight during the meeting, followed by the march forward in a mood under the impression of an easy victory, the person everyone relied on, their leader Diabel, had been struck down in a single blow. For these reasons, aside from Group C, everyone was bound to the spot rigidly. After the strained silence, the Kobold Lord recovered from the long delay caused by using its skill.
"Charge..."
At the same time, in the front lines, the two handed axe user Agil and several of his subordinates moved in to support the others.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
"Uguruo!"
The demi human roared, and the katana―― no, the nodachi in both its hands was lifted off the cut floor and raised up high. Sword skill Floating Boat «Ukifune». It was aimed for the Knight that had fallen right in front of it, Diabel. As if pulled by a red arc of light, the knight in silver armor was sent flying high up into the air. The damage wasn't much. However, the Kobold Lord's movement didn't stop there.
Using its large wolf-like mouth, it grinned and laughed ferociously.
The nodachi was once again wrapped in a red light effect. «Ukifune» was merely the start of the combo. If you were hit by this while in the air, it was useless to struggle, you could only defend by curling up. However, it was impossible for a person who was dealing with this situation for the first time.
While in the sky, Diabel brandished his sword, trying to pull off a sword skill to counterattack. However, because he was unstable, the system could not determine the starting motion for the skill. The nodachi directly hit the front of the knight who waved his sword uselessly.
At a speed which could not be seen the combination attack continued with a further strike followed by a thrust. A three hit strike, this skill's name is Scarlet Fan, «Hiōgi».
The knight's body was covered in three continuous damage effect, the bright colours and intense sounds showed that all the attacks were critical hits. His virtual body «Avatar» was blasted twenty meters away, over the heads of the raid members, and ended up near the Sentinel which was my opponent. He fell almost as if piercing the ground. His HP gauge, which was already red, began to reduce further.
The Knight – Diabel' HP was all gone. Kirito ran to him, a potion in one of his hand.
"...Please, Kirito-san. The boss, defea―"
Before his sentence ended――
The commander of the Aincrad Boss Raid Forces, the Knight Diabel, turned into blue shards of glass which shattered and scattered.
Uwaaaaa, this kind of cry ―― this scream filled the Boss room.
Nearly all the raid members clutched and hung on to their weapons, with their wide eyes open. But no one moved. The leader being first to fall, to die, was an unpleasant situation no one had prepared for, so no one knew the next course of action.
In normal circumstances, «Boss uses weapons and skills different to information previously given» and «Loss of leader», suffering from two disasters, everyone should immediately retreat out of the boss's room. However, if our backs were exposed to Illfang while we retreated, he could easily use his long ranged Katana Skill. The ten people furthest to the back, in the worst case, would end up stunned and deprived of all HP by a sequence of attacks like Diabel. That is to say, even as we retreat we must defend our bodies, but our opponent was difficult as he had unknown skills. Compared to the time taken to dash out of the room, the same degree of HP decrease leading to deaths could be expected.
Above it all, with too many deaths ―― including the leader ―― and with the boss strategy that was issued failing, it would be difficult to assemble another force to raid the boss again. In other words, all attempts to clear the death game SAO would lead to failure. The eight thousand survivors, would not be warriors of the virtual world, but prisoners trapped in the first floor until there is an some kind of «end»...
"...Why... Why... Diabel-han, the leader, why was he first..." Kibaou almost wimpered. Kirito grabbed his throat.
"Is this the time to be discouraged?!"
With a low cry, Kibaou's small eyes were instantly filled with a familiar hostility.
"...What... What did you say?"
"You're the Group E leader, if you are a coward, your companions will die! Listen here, additional Sentinels may still spawn... no, they will definitely spawn. Handling them is your responsibility!"
"...then, what do you want to do. Are you planning on escaping alone?"
"How is that possible. Of course I..." Kirito stopped for a dramatic effect.
"――Will get the LA on the boss!"
Kirito was not the only one who wanted to get the LA.
Ichigo was eyeing the King's nodachi. In the real world, before he know that 'Zangetsu" he knew was not the real zanpakuto of his, the bankai of his – Tensa Zangetsu – took the form of a nodachi. If he get LA, there's a chance he will get the weapon of the boss.
"Let's go!" He yelled, to encourage the players. He saw Kirito and Asuna exchange some words, but couldn't hear what they said.
"Everyone, back ten steps towards the exit! As long as the boss is not surrounded, it will not use its ranged attacks." Kirito yelled as loud as he could.
"Ru-Hikari, remember the time you're trapped in gigai?" Ichigo asked to his partner. "Same tactics?" She said, seeing what he implied.
"Yeah!" He yelled as he got closer to the boss.
At the same time, the boss was poised with his Nodachi shining with a green glow, and slashed at a speed which could not be seen. Straight long ranged move, Whirlwind «Tsujikaze». Because it was an Iai type move, it would be impossible to keep up with it after seeing it launched.
"U... ooo!"
Ichigo blocked the sword moving by one of his sword skill. Rukia ran and used another motion close to sword skill – but not really. It was something she learned during Zanjutsu class in Shin'o.
"Haaaaa!" The attack was effective. Though it wasn't a real sword skill, it worked as if it was one.
Another one. Troopers required three, whereas Sentinels required four strikes. To fully deplete the fourth gauge, he have no clue how many strikes would be required. A big advantage of fighting the boss as a team was due to its massive bulk, allowing multiple players to hit it at the same time, if it were possible Ichigo would have preferred other players as attackers by his side. But all the other groups from A to G had drawn back as their HP were greatly reduced.
"Kirito, Hikari, Can you still fight?" Ichigo asked unusually calm. "What do you think? You idiot. I thought you know me better than that." Rukia answered sarcaristically. "I think I can." Was Kirito's reply.
"...The next one, is coming!" Ichigo yelled, and ran for the boss.
The skills were same from beta testing.
True, there was no monster who used katana until 10th floor, but the skills were the same. It gave Ichigo and Rukia unexpected help.
"Cra...!"
Kirito was successful at canceling the boss's attack so far, but he missed when the boss tried a different type of skill. Ichigo noticed it was a move that included some of the feint motion - «Gengetsu».
"You know, using the skill with the name that have 'moon' only motivates me!"
Ichigo exclaimed to no one in particular. Kirito was curious about the reason, but he put on back.
The moment Rukia prepared for the next move, the boss used another move - Scarlet Fan «Hiōgi»…
"Nu…oooo!"
A deep war cry was let out just as its blade was on the verge of hitting her.
As the blade grazed just the top her head, a huge weapon launched a skill while releasing a green light. The two-handed axe sword skill «Whirlwind»—
The Nodachi had discharged first, but the two handed axe that spun like a whirlwind intercepted it. It created an impact so great that the entire boss room trembled, and Illfang was knocked back quite a distance. However, the attacker had braced both his feet wrapped in leather sandals, so he only slid back a meter or so.
The one who had entered the fray was Group B's brown skinned and gigantic leader, Agil.
"We'll support you. There has to be Tanks along with damage dealers, that will not change."
"…Sorry, I leave it to you." Ichigo muttered.
"If the boss is surrounded, it will attack back with an omni-directional attack! I will be calling out the trajectory of the attacks, so the guys in front, deal with them! Even if you can't repel it by force with a sword skill, you can avoid a large amount of damage just by blocking it properly with a shield or a weapon!" Kirito yelled to inform the other player that may not have noticed this.
"Ou!"
The boss's weapon had changed, and sure enough, along with it, it seemed that the number of «Ruin Kobold Sentinels» that were spawned had also increased. Kibaou's Group E and the lightly injured pole-arm equipped Group G were taking on all four of the heavily armored guards at the same time. Although they had not taken much damage so far, as long as Illfang remained alive, four Sentinels would probably keep jumping out of the wall alcoves on a regular basis. They would eventually reach their limits with just two parties.
Also, between the front and rear lines, the injured raid members, including the survivors of Group C, were trying to recover their HP.
However, recovery potions in this game were really frustrating items, having only a «Heal Over Time» effect…in other words, drinking the bottle would not instantly recover the gauge, but instead make it gradually increase in small increments, and moreover, after drinking the potion there was a cool-down period indicated by a «Cooling» icon displayed at the bottom of the vision, which rendered drinking the next bottle useless until it disappeared. On top of that, the inferior-quality potions sold at the first floor NPC shops had a sorrowfully terrible flavour.
Putting the taste aside, because of the set cool-down period, healing from heavy injuries took up a lot of time. Therefore, the normal theory was that, when someone received damage worthy of a potion, they would switch with their partner and fall back to the rear (that was, in other words, POT rotation), but as the number of those who received unexpectedly heavy wounds multiplied, it became easy for the rotation to break down. On higher floors, the dreamlike item which could instantly recover the gauge, «Healing Crystal», could be obtained, so such recovery is possible if one is not bothered with the cost, but it would be asking too much to have one on hand now.
Therefore, how long Agil and the six people under him who were currently replacing me were able to maintain their HP gauges against the boss's fierce attacks would decide the flow of the battle. Kirito, who just drank a potion, helped them with the direction the boss was attacking.
Agil's team of six were not pressured into desperately countering from following my instructions, but instead they used their shields and large weapons to guard themselves. Since they were players with «tank builds», they had high defence and HP, but even so receiving zero damage from the sword skills the boss launched was impossible. A loud sound effect would occur, and each time, their gauges would gradually reduce.
Among that group was a party who lightly danced. Asuna, Hikari. Without turning her back in front of the boss, she never wasted any chance to pierce its body with «Linear» whenever Illfang was in a delay period, even for a moment. Of course, after repeated strikes the «Hate» value would become focused on Asuna, but the six tanks used appropriate skills such as «Howl» to redirect the target's Hate to themselves. Hikari used not only the sword skills, but the skills she mastered on the real life – it made as if she danced. With speed and agility, the girl was dancing in a sense.
This dangerous battle, which could collapse in an instant if even one of the elements here failed, actually managed to continue for close to five minutes.
Soon enough, the boss's HP finally went below thirty percent, and the final gauge became suffused red.
At that instant, perhaps letting down his guard for a moment, one of the players acting as a tank tripped over. Stumbling, the player came to a halt directly behind Illfang.
"…Get out of there quickly!"
Kirito called out reflexively, but it was a moment too late. As the boss felt that it was «In a surrounded state», it gave out an exceptionally ferocious roar.
With a jerk, its large body sank into a crouch. Then its entire bulk was flung high up into a vertical jump. While on its course, its body along with the Nodachi, contorted and revolved during the jump. It was the omnidirectional attack «Tsumujiguruma»—…
"U…ooaah!"
Kirito ran directly toward the boss, using the one-handed sword rush technique «Sonic Leap». He tried to cancel the skill…
*Zashuu!* A sharp and heavy slashing sound rang out. The intense light effects showing that it was a critical hit flashed before Kirito's eyes. In the next moment, the Kobold king's huge body was sent angling sideways in the sky, and then it crashed into the ground before the tornado of its special attack could even form.
"Guruu!"
Yelling, it tried to stand up, but both its feet and arms quivered. It was a bad status that affected humanoid type monsters, the «Tumble» state—.
"Everyone—do a Full Attack! Surround it!"
"O…oooooh!"
Agil's six men cried out as if releasing the anger that had accumulated while they had only been able to concentrate on guarding until now. Surrounding the fallen Kobold king, they activated all their vertical slashing sword skills simultaneously. Axes, maces and hammers wrapped in lights of various colours, and rained down incessantly on its huge body. Bright lights and loud sound effects exploded, and Illfang's HP gauge which was shown at the top of our field of vision was shaved down bit by bit.
This was a gamble. If all the Kobold king's HP was reduced to nothing before it got up, it would be our victory. If it got out of the «Tumble» status first, in that instant we would be met with «Tsumujiguruma» again, and this time everyone would be cut down.
Agil's group, who had recovered from the post-motion delay of their techniques, began the pre-motions for their next skills. The Kobold king stopped struggling at the same time, and its body started to rise.
"…We're not going to make it!"
Kirito yelled, but Ichigo didn't listened.
"Let's go!" He yelled to the people who can still fight.
Its HP gauge…was left with one dot.
It felt like the demi-human gave a smirk. Ichigo grinned madly, like Shiro did whenever they were dueling.
For the last attack, he turned to the Illfang – and used the last attack he had – almost same time with Kirito.
The Kobold king's gigantic frame, suddenly losing its strength, staggered backwards.
Its wolflike face looked towards the ceiling, as it gave a howl. Over its body, various cracks noisily appeared, resounding with a snap and crackle.
Both its hands went slack, and its nodachi fell onto the floor. After that, the body of Aincrad's first floor's boss, «Illfang the Kobold Lord» shattered into millions of fragments, and scattered grandly in all directions. As everyone bent backwards under the intangible pressure, the purple system message [You got the last attack!] flashed soundlessly into Ichigo and Kirito's vision.
As the boss dispersed, the remaining Sentinels at the back also seemed to have scattered into nothingness.
The hue of the shining torches on the walls changed from a gloomy orange into a bright yellow. The dimness in the boss's room was immediately lifted, and from goodness knows where a cool wind swept across the room, taking away the heat of the battle.
There was barely anyone who broke the silence. Groups G and E remained at the back, Groups A, C, D and F who were on their knees, awaited recovery, and Agil alongside his Group B, the «Final Wall», sat on the floor, looking around dazedly. It was almost as if they were concerned the terrifying demi-human king would revive.
Is this really the end? Would any «Minor differences from Beta» occur here as well...?
Everyone must have thinking about the same thing.
As if the system had been awaiting that recognition, now a new message appeared in my view. The experience gained. The distribution of col. And finally ―― the items obtained.
It was over... The biggest obstacle which had kept eight thousand players confined to the first floor, has finally been removed.
When the obtained items and experience point window opened, everybody cheered, believing that they defeated thSome people threw both hands up into the air. Some embraced their comrades. Some danced nonsensically. In this storm of uproar, a large figure slowly got off the floor and strode over. It was the two-handed-axe user, Agil.
"...Those were wonderful commands. And more than that those sword skills were spectacular. Congratulations, this victory is rightfully yours."
Even with the English word in the middle, the giant pronounced the sentence perfectly, and as his mouth closed, he had a large grin. He stretched out his large right hand clenched into a fist. Ichigo punched it, with a grin.
At that moment.
"―――― Why!"
Suddenly, that loud shout howled out. Everyone turned to see the source of the voice.
"―――― Why, did you leave Diabel-san to die!"
This man, was a member of Group C... in other words he had been one of the deceased knight Diabel's comrades from the start.
Looking at him, Kirito muttered.
"Let him die...?"
"That's right! Because... Because you knew the skills the boss used, didn't you! If you had given us that information from the start, Diabel wouldn't have died!"
His cries came as if vomiting blood, and the remaining raid members began to rumble. "Now that you mention it..." "Why...? It wasn't even written in the strategy guide..." giving rise to speculation, which gradually spread.
Ichigo expected Kibaou to say what he actually knew – but it wasn't him who actually said it.
"I... I know! This guy: he's a beta tester! That's why, the boss's attack patterns, good hunting spots and quests, he knows all of them! He hid them despite knowing about them!"
Even upon hearing those words, the scimitar user and the other members from Group C did not show any surprise. Ichigo sighed.
They might have heard it from Diabel, but ―― as a beta tester himself, and hiding that fact from his comrades, it was unlikely that Diabel would have brought up the topic of beta testers on his own ―― when he discerned those katana skills that should never have been seen by anyone before, they must have known then.
Instead, the scimitar user's eyes seemed to seethe in hatred, as he again tried to shout out something.
It was interrupted by the mace user who had served as a tank with Agil until the end. He raised his hand dutifully, and said in a calm tone.
"Even so, the guide that was handed out yesterday, it was written that it was information on the boss's attack pattern only from the beta period, right? If he was really a beta tester, wouldn't his knowledge be the same as in the guide?"
"Tha, That is..."
Replacing the Group E member who became silent, the scimitar user spoke in a voice venomous with animosity.
"That strategy guide was a lie. Argo's information shop was selling lies. That person was a beta tester after all, there's no way she would have given us the truth for free."
――This is bad. This is becoming very bad.
Ichigo thought. He looked at Kirito to read his thought – and a bit surprised to see a ominous grin.
"An original beta tester, right? ... Don't lump me together with those amateurs."
"Wha... What was that...?"
Ichigo caught what Kirito was thinking. He can't really let him get all the blames...
"Listen here and remember well. SAO's CBT «Closed Beta Test» had an outrageously low acceptance for the lottery draw. Out of the one thousand people, how many real MMO gamers do you think got selected? Most of them were just «Newbie» players who didn't even know methods of leveling properly. You guys here are much better than that lot."
"That's not all." Ichigo butted in. "This game is virtual reality – the physical ability of the player is an important factor. Even though the MMO game experience is important, your reaction to the monsters and revising the plan is important. "
Everyone whispered to each other. No one expected Ichigo to be a beta tester, it seemed.
"――But, we're not like those guys." Kirito said, catching what Ichigo wanted to say.
Deliberately sneering, he opened his mouth and broke the silence.
"During the beta testing, we reached floors no one else could reach. And there we learned of the Katana Skills the boss used, as each of us fought and killed mobs that used katanas on way higher floors. We know a lot more too, there's no way even someone like Argo could match even one of us."
"...What's that, that's..."
The person who had first pointed Kirito out as a beta tester, the guy from Group E, then said in a hoarse voice.
"That's... no longer on the level of a beta tester... that's totally cheating, you're just a cheater!"
From all around the raid party, yeah, cheater, cheating beta tester, a multitude voices sprang up. The words were soon muddled together, and in the end a strange sounding word, «Beater», reached Ichigo's ears.
"...«Beater», that has a good ring to it." Ichigo grinned like Shiro – evil and sinister.
"Exactly, we are «Beaters». From now on, please do not lump us together with those former testers."
――――That should do it.
From here on, of the four or five hundred current players that seem to be beta testers, they will now be divided into two further categories. The majority «Testers who are merely amateurs» and, the remaining few «Information controlling dirty Beaters».
In the future, the hostilities from the newer players, should all be directed towards the Beaters. So if a beta tester were to be discovered, then players would not immediately hate them.
Though, thanks for Mamoru, I will have some people who will be my party member if necessary.
Kirito thought with a relief.
The scimitar user became pale-faced and fell silent, along with the Group C members, than the Group E member removed his gaze from the two beaters. Ichigo and Kirito opened their menu window and ran finger along the equipment figure.
Kirito changed his gray coat to the item he just got - «Coat of Midnight». Ichigo changed his weapon – a curved sword – to the Katana he just got, «Some no Owari»(1).
"We're going on to «Activate» the second floor's transfer gate as you have to do. From the exit here it will be a short walk to the district town, if you want to come along, you should be prepared to be killed by any mob that comes along." Ichigo paused for a moment. "Let's go, Hikari."
With that, Ichgo stepped forward with large strides, and pushed open the door to the second floor, situated behind the main throne.
After climbing the narrow spiral staircase for a while, a door once again appeared. The door exited into the middle of some steep cliffs. A narrow platform extended to the left which led to a flight of stairs descending down the cliff wall, from here Rukia swept her eyes over the panoramic view of the second floor.
Unlike the complex and varying terrain of the first floor, the second floor was lined from one end to the other with flat-topped mountains. The mountain tops were covered in lush green grass, where gigantic ox-type monsters sauntered around.
The second floor's district town, «Urbus», looked as if it was a city entirely excavated from the flat-topped mountain at the bottom of my view. From here they will descend the flight of stairs, and as Ichigo had earlier described, it would only require walking a short kilometer across the field, to reach the «Teleport Gate» in the central square of Urbus which would be activated upon touch, linking it to the «Starting City» on the first floor.
"Why did you help me?" Kirito asked Ichigo, who was looking at Rukia with amused smile. "No one noticed you because of your avatar had tattoo in the beta. You could just act as if you were not a beta player..."
"I just did what I thought to be right." He replied." I always followed my heart in important situations. I thought letting you get all the burdens will be hard."
"Well, thank you for that." Kirito replied. "By the way, do you have any Katana skills?"
"We both got it the day before yesterday. I'll get Ru - Hikari another one as soon as possible." Ichigo replied.
A footstep heard behind them. It was the rapier user – Asuna.
"Well, have a good time." Rukia said, and pulled Ichigo to the nearest town.
"So, it was tattoo, huh? How big? It must be big if any other beta recognized you." Rukia teased Ichigo.
"Shut up. It was more like half-kidnapped by the tattoo shop." He grumbled.
"As if." Rukia stretched. It felt nice...
"Race to the town? Lost one buy the dinner!"
"Bring it on!"
(1) Some no Owari is the name I made for the boss's katana. Some means beginning, and Owari means end. So, Some no Owari means end of beginning.I had some confusion about japanese grammer, but because 'Someno Mai' is 'Dance of starting'(or beginning), I thought the one come after the 'of' should come before the 'no'. If there's someone who is good at japanese grammer, please let me know the right one.
Sorry for the readers of this fanfiction(if there's any.). I had a church camp at beginning of the week, and I didn't have any kind of internet connections. It was hard to write on someplace like that, and most of the time I couldn't write, either.
Also, there'll be some revision on chapter 2. I read Aria in the Starless night on Korean, my first language, so I didn't really knew the spelling of Anneal Blade. Also, I forgot that it was quest item. Moreover, during reading it again for information, I realized that Wind Floret Asuna used was an item dropped from a monster, strengthened